Waterford will play Galway in the All Ireland final on the first Sunday in September but today's emphatic win over Cork came at a cost.

Conor Gleeson was red carded late on in the game and the outstanding Austin Gleeson could face a ban after he appeared the pull the face guard of Cork's Luke Meade.

Waterford ran out comprehensive 4-19 to 0-20 winners but their celebrations will be mixed with worry about Gleeson’s prospects of playing against Galway.

Gleeson. who scored 1-2, appeared to pull Luke Meade’s helmet off when the players tangled near the sideline late in the first half. Given that his team-mate Tadhg De Burca missed this game for a similar offence, the act made no sense. It simply beggared belief.

Final wouldn't be same without him, but surely Austin Gleeson must face retrospective action. Genius player but blatant guard interference. pic.twitter.com/RU9FkgRJ6D

"I haven't been aware until you said it there of any sort of an incident involving a helmet," McGrath told RTÉ after the game. "We'll see what happens."

"Is it dangerous? No. Is it deliberate? Yes. Is it violent? No. How will it be looked after that? I don't know. But it is interference with a helmet, he can't deny that," said Ger Loughnane on the Sunday Game.

"He pulls the helmet off Luke Meade. How Ozzie Gleeson gets involved in these incidents just beats me. With all the controversies there was about Tadhg de Búrca..."

De Búrca sat out today's semi-final after his last-ditch appeal to the independent Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) failed on Thursday night.

The DRA, which has former Offaly hurler Rory Hanniffy as secretary, backed the proposed one-match ban from the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), which was rubber-stamped by the Central Hearings Committee (CHC), and upheld by the Central Appeals Committee (CAC).

He was sent off against Wexford in the All-Ireland senior hurling quarter-final for an incident involving Wexford’s Harry Kehoe.

Referee Fergal Horgan issued a red card on the advice of linesman John Keenan, and de Búrca was cited for a category III (iv) infraction, specifically ‘behaving in any way which is dangerous to an opponent, including deliberately pulling on or taking hold of a faceguard or any part of an opponent’s helmet (in hurling).’

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